Jl'XE.] WARPING. 391 



grand carrier, may be made several miles long ; it 

 has been tried as far as four, so as to warp the 

 lands on each side the whole way, and lateral cuts 

 made in any direction for the sajnc purpose; ob- 

 serving, however, that the effect lessens as you re- 

 cede from the river ; that is, it demands longer 

 time to deposit warp enough. 



But the effect is very different from that of irri- 

 gation ; for it is not the water that works the 

 effect, hut the mud, so that in floods the business 

 ceases, as also in winter ; and it is not to manure 

 the soil, but to create it. What the land is, in- 

 tended to be warped, is not of the smallest con- 

 sequence : a bog, clay, sand, peat, or a barn floor ; 

 all one ; as the warp raises it in one summer from 

 eix to sixteen inches thick ; and in hollows or low 

 places, two, three, or four feet, so as to leave the 

 whole piece level. Thus a soil of any depth you 

 please is formed, which consists of mud of a vast 

 fertility, though containing not much besides sand ; 

 but a sand unique. Mr. Dal ton, of Knaith, on 

 Trent, sent some to an eminent chemist, whose 

 report was, that it contains mucilage, and a very 

 minute portion of saline matter ; a considerable 

 one of calcareous earth : the residue is mica and 

 sand ; the latter in far the largest quantity : both 

 in very fine particles. Here is no mention of any 

 thing argillaceous ; but from examining in the fields 

 much warp, I am clear there must be clay in some, 

 from its caking in small clods, and from its cleansing 

 cloth of grease, almost like fuller's earth. A con- 



c c 4 siderable 



